


Lost in Time

by GrinningCheshire



Category: The Last Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, Culture Shock, Fix-It of Sorts, Modern solutions for past problems, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Romance? It's Possible, Time Travel, modern girl in the past, we'll see how this goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25696216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrinningCheshire/pseuds/GrinningCheshire
Summary: A woman finds herself back in time. Like way back in time. Before England even was a thing.Chaos follows.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Lost in Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hey thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. If you like this and want to see more, let me know :)

CHAPTER ONE 

It wasn’t long before I found myself standing before a large clearing. I panted slightly from exertion as the hours of hiking through unstable terrain wore me down significantly. At the sight I held in a small scream. Still no sign of civilization. Unlike the thicket of trees behind me, the large green expanse stretched wide with small outcrops of trees boarding along its edges. The strangest thing was that the trees in front did not remind me of any of the trees at home. These were thin white trees, so close to the ground that they couldn’t be anything else but new. 

From what little I saw of the horizon, it seemed to go on like this. While I counted it as a blessing to have made it out of the woods, I couldn’t help but to feel vulnerable out in the clearing. Which was crazy because who knew what types of predators lurked in those woods? I looked behind myself wearily in the direction I came from. It had been only a few hours since I came into consciousness in the middle of the woods. A part of me grew concerned at the thought of moving further from my origin point, but I quickly placated myself. It would do me no good if I stayed in those woods. It was a wonder I made it out in the first place. On top of that, I did not know where I was or if anyone I knew would be around. A howl echoed throughout the trees. And there wouldn’t be anything left of me around if I stayed out in the woods. I furrowed my brows in confusion at the sound, were there any wolves in Ohio? At the second howl I made my mind up almost entirely. Wolf or no wolf, there was a predator out there. Think me a pessimist, but I had high doubts that my pepper spray could defeat an animal with claws and rows of sharp teeth. Though even with my doubts, I took my spray out from its place in my bag. May not defeat it but might be able to buy myself time to run. I gave a quick glance around me. There was not much to run to. My eyes then met the thin trees behind me. Or climb up on. 

I hefted the bag on my shoulder higher up on my back. I thanked my lucky stars that I always kept snacks on my person. Who knew that being a forgetful eater would come in handy. I only had two granola bars and a bag of gummy worms left in my bag. I had managed to devour my half eaten bagel and muffin from earlier in the day. I took stock of my water bottle. Only a third of the water had gone, but that didn’t stop me from being nervous. I had to find a water source and shelter. I squinted out against the harsh midday sun. The sun was at a high enough peak, but given the fact that it was still quite chilly I didn’t know if it were early autumn or spring. Knowing the season was critical as I did not know how many hours of sunlight would be left of this day. I had already wasted a couple hours during my time in the woods. A couple of hours I should have spent wiser, especially seeing there was no water out here.

My fretting soon came to a close when a thumping sound echoed throughout the terrain. I waited a beat more, tilting my head towards the source of the sound. With bated breath, I listened as the rhythmic thumping grew louder against the ground. A few moments after that, I noticed several blotchy figures along the horizon. Shielding my face against the sunlight, I moved to get a better look at the approaching figures. Were those men on horseback? I looked around myself one more time. Had I managed to stumble across a reenactment at some medieval festival? As the horses drew closer, I began to doubt my original assumptions. 

Erring on the side of caution, I hid myself in a crouch under the canopy of the woods. The horsemen drew close enough for me to gauge their appearance. It seemed as if all the riders were men. I held fast onto my pepper spray. To my dismay and tentative happiness, the men made a stop near the small canopy I hid under. I strained my ears to hear what they had to say.

“...eftsîð?”1 The first rider spoke to another. I strained my ear to catch the reply of the other man.  
“Sê….lange.” The third man, closest to me spoke this time. Though his voice was pitched so low I couldn’t gather a cohesive sentence within my mind. I inched a little closer towards the bramble bushes, hoping to catch more of the words spoken.  
“Hîe dimf….êower selenes?” The second man questioned the third, though this was all based on the way his tone pitched higher at the end of his sentence. Not because of any understanding I reached at the content of his words.

Surprisingly, there was little I could glean from the conversation as the men were not speaking English. I listened further. Was it German? I frowned in concentration. But I could still recognize bits and phrases as English. And from my admittedly poor knowledge of the language, it did not sound like German. Some other European language perhaps?

I leaned further in to catch the rest of the conversation. Unfortunately I leaned too far in, causing my whole body to shift forwards and into the pile of broken sticks in front of me. The sharp snap of the branches alerted the men before me. Sheepishly I poked my head out, with my hands raised in mock surrender.

“Sor–” I quickly cut off my apology at the sound of metal sliding. Horrified I looked up at the metal stick the man closest to me was holding. “Is that a sword?”. Sadly the man did not answer, continuing to point the sword towards me. “Um, that does not seem safe at all.” I shifted nervously at the continued raised voices of the men in front of me. My nervousness increased as I noticed that not only did all of them have swords (rather large ones at that) but one of the men was equipped with a bow as well. Their agitation increased as I seemingly failed to answer their question.

Two of the men in the back broke off into a sudden argument with one another. As they argued the man closest to me took the opportunity to look up and down my profile. Apparently liking what he saw, he gave me a leer, showcasing several rotting teeth. Well that’s just nasty. By now one of the men in the back had actually taken to waving his sword in a vertical motion. Well okay there, Stabby. The man continued to make these motions, this time gesticulating towards me with his other hand. They were probably arguing on which way to cut my body up so they can store it easy enough in their medieval freezer. I gave a look at the man I dubbed Toothless. Or mash me up for their cannibalistic convenience. 

As they argued, I took the chance to evaluate my options for escape. And while I earlier had ruled out running across the clearing or climbing up one of the frail trees, I could still use the woods as a resource to hide myself. But that is if I could outrun them into the woods. My running capabilities are abysmal. Less than that, if we are being realistic. The one advantage I had was surprise. If I could manage to stun the man in front of me, I could possibly make it in time to the woods to hide. Hopefully I could go deep enough within the foliage to hide properly. But who knew? I was no MacGyver. 

The men’s argument seemed to draw to a close. Stabby, the man behind Toothless, made one final motion with his sword free hand towards me, prompting the man next to him forward.

Okay. Act now think later. At the second forward movement of the third nameless man, I threw the first thing in my pocket. Which really turned out to be two things. A half opened packet of chili flakes from the diner near campus and a quarter I had been meaning to use during my Saturday trip to the laundromat. In all honesty it could have been worse. Though I didn’t give my time to see their reactions, hearing one of the man’s screams was enough. I threw it in the general direction of Stabby’s face, but I had no idea which of the items hit their target. I hoped it was the chili flakes. Preferably making contact in his eye. But having either of the items serving a brief distraction was nothing but luck. Hopefully that same luck would serve me well during my escape.

I made a dash for mad behind me, weaving through the trees in an attempt to dissuade the bowman from laying a strike against my backside. Though I promptly gave up that strategy during my third stumble over my feet. Giving up speed during a chase was probably not the best idea anyways. I continued to run forward as fast as I could. Nothing record breaking, but probably my best time in a long time. Who knew the threat of cannibalization upon my misbegotten body would spring me into this level of speed? Though during my brief fantasies on running away from cannibals, I always imagined myself in the middle of Appalachia. Or in a new world order plagued by a horde of zombies. Not chased down in the woods by Robin Hood’s lost men. 

Eventually I came upon a large thicket of bush where I happily threw myself under. Moments after the sound of hooves made their presence known near me. Seconds after that all but one left. The one horseman left was Stabby. Wonderful. 

My hands moved to clutch at the large stone digging into my side under the bush. I only had one chance to drag myself upwards and throw the rock. Unlike the others, Stabby only carried a sword. Through the space the branches provided, I peered through once more. He was still circling throughout the area. Once he picked up my track–assuming he could–it would be over for me. With that in mind, I lobbed the rock as hard as I could at the strangers head. Luckily the stone made its target with a sickening crack, throwing the man off his mount. The horse, startled, ran off.

I tried to take advantage of the confusion by quickly trying to make my way off, like the horse, but was soon knocked over by a sudden weight. It was the man again and boy was he pissed. With a frankly frightening growl, he took the back of my head and slammed it downward, causing me to bite my tongue at the action. Blood flooded my mouth and I spit the saliva-blood mixture into his face, causing him to loosen his hold on me briefly. With fear driving me forward, I took the opportunity to bend my knees back and kick upwards with my whole body, getting him to fully release my body. I got on top of the man driving my hips downward to keep him still. Never had I been so thankfully for my weight. Now taking his head, I slammed it backwards into the ground a total of three times until his body grew still. Not wanting to become a murderer I stopped at that. That, and my hands shook so badly I couldn’t manage a fourth time.

I took a quick scan around me for any incoming horsemen. None. But I knew that they would come back once they noticed their missing companion. I took stalk of what the man owned and grabbed a leather pouch knotted into his belt. Looking within it all I saw were old coins. No identification could be found. I took the pouch along with the sword and ran.

I continued to run until I came upon another open pasture. This time I paused, wholly out of breath. It was the horse that ran off. Not wanting to venture out further with no ride I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult to ride. I was wrong. Very wrong. Winners could not be choosers so I made myself content at the fact I could not gear this horse in anyway possible. Luckily it moved on forward through the pasture and into another set of woods. It was some time before I came across anything. The horse eventually took me to a small medieval-like settlement. Before we could fully exit the woods, I moved to get off the horse. A couple of painful minutes later I was on the ground, with a wedgie of a lifetime. I dismounted my bag but kept the sword tied to the horse's harness. If the horse was recognized in this place, I didn’t want to be known as a thief. 

It took me a couple of minutes of staring to finally connect the image in front of me to my reality. I had no clue where I was, but I knew I wasn’t home. A hopeful option is that I am near a nature commune or even historical re-enactment troupe. Maybe the next highway is only a couple of miles outward. That didn’t explain how I got here. It didn’t explain the life-threatening chase. The more I stayed at the cusp of the woods, the more my thoughts spiraled downwards. I was coming to a slow realization that my current reality was that of the past.


End file.
